L'Heure de Nuit
Guerlain (2012)

Love,grief,beauty.like slinking around the bedroom in a silky nightgown,powering one's nose and applying lipistick on an early spring morning with the windows wide open and the smell of a flower garden pervading the room.this fragrance might say mystique,be exotic and erotic. there is something about in that,evokes Anna Karenina as played by Greta Garbo.indeed any woman played by Greta Garbo.a great screen actress.

Sophisticated,gorgeous,classic and a little melancholic.it opens with bright, sparkling citrusy notes and all those comfy,fluffy powdery flowers, heliotrope, iris and violet,last a very long time. little touch of rose and vanilla, then the just right amount of clean musk,some dry wood.the dry down appeals endless and it's very musky with slight aromatic sweetness.a mixture of Prada Infusion d'Iris and Alien,and above all reminds me of vintage L'heure bleuem.sillage is very good and longevity is great on my skin.

Bergamot and mature yellow peaches are the two notes that open up this creation. The fruit is of moderate sweetness, and an aniseed is mixed in after a while, gives the top notes and added twist.

Gradually an orange blossom arises, gaining in strength overtime and mixing with the top notes; this combination develops into a delicious and rather unique aroma that last for about an hour. The more the drydown lasts, the more a agreeable jasmine is present, and I also get a rose impression that is of note mainly for its somewhat bland and standardised innocuousness.

The base is lowers the standard compared to the level of this olfactory journey so far. There is a heliotrope pleasant brights adding a certain softness, a vanilla that, again, is pleasant and whose main merit is, beside a nice whiff of caramel component attached to it at times, that it is neither intrusively sweet nor cloying. And, finally, there arrives the predictable array of white musks that is as unexciting as precipitation after one month of English winter rain.

I get moderate sillage, very good projection and an excellent eleven hours of longevity on my skin.

This spring creation is not and easy one to evaluate fairly. On the one hand there are times or originality and lovely beauty, on the other hand there are periods of generic and synthetic dullness. The later are particularly obvious in the base. Dr Samuel Johnson, commenting on William Pitt's approaches, opined that patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Maybe the vanilla/white-musks combination in the base could become the last refuge of some perfumers? Buy some shares in Firmenich maybe?

L'Heure de Nuit is said to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Guerlain's L'Heure Bleue, a great creation that is reported to be inspired by Impressionism. This flanker, L'Heure de Nuit, is a pale and rather superficial homage, more like a painting whose water colours have been thinned out by rain damage. Still, overall it is not bad and just teeters at the border between a score of neutral vs. positive. Given the benefit of the doubt: 3/5

L'Heure Bleue with a drop of Insolence. If this sounds lovely to you (and it is) save the $300 and do it yourself.

L'Huere Bleue is one of my favorite perfumes, so I ignored L'Heure de Nuit for years knowing a mere flanker could never dethrone my queen. But, after giving it a proper chance, it has won me over.

Nuit isn't as bafflingly complex as Bleue, though they share the same doughy core - that complicated mix of stuff that smells simultaneously like almonds, bread, grease paint, old makeup, and spices. While Bleue gains a lot of mystery from topnotes shrouded in powder, Nuit is more straightforward with a mix of violets, grape, and Guerlain's signature cherry, all of which melt together well with the clove aspect of the heartnotes, giving a spicy sweet fruitiness juxtaposed with the spiced dough. This change from powder to fruit does make for easier wearing (my only real complaint about L'Heure Bleue is that the powder billows ridiculously with more than the lightest application).

I ended up splurging on a bottle - only time will tell which I'll end up reaching for the most. While I feel like I might be sacrificing a touch of nuance for wearability, I think the depth is still there, especially witnessing the varied descriptions in these reviews, implying that there's a lot of hidden detail to smell even in this new version.

I am a big fan of L'Heure Bleue and recently became a big fan of Apres L'Ondee, both uniquely related in a fragrance category which seems to only exist in the world of Guerlain. After 1246 Basenotes reviews, I could safely say I have never found another scent that resembles either of these two icons.

Now, however, Guerlain itself has produced a third. L'Heure de Nuit begins with a dry anise predominating the initial impression. Then begins a very close approximaton to the original L'Heure Bleue. Nuit has far fewer ingredients than Bleue, but only the peach is "new." All others were part of the original Bleue formula (18 ingredients as compared with Nuit's 10).

Nuit is therefore less complex than Bleue, but close enough to approximate Bleue's effect to a lesser degree. The question is why would one want to pay three times the price for Nuit, when Bleue is better and less expensive?

The projection is great and the longevity excellent. A perfectly lovely homage to the original, but if anything, Nuit should be less expensive than Bleue in order to attract an appropriate audience.

I am not great ar reviews. I have vintage L'heure Blue Extrait and EDT, I have the current perfume and EDP. I have vintage Extrait of Apres L'ONDEE and current EDT of Apree. I have to say the color in the Guerlain Boutique turned me off from trying it but when I got home with a sample I was actually shocked. I have sold many of the a L'huere and Apres vintage and have never really liked how they sat on my skin but this is sort of in between those two. Not as heavy as LB and not as fleeting and sharp as the new Apres.
This smells on me the way discription soft vintage LB seem to smell on others. I love it!
Yes it is pricey but if you are looking for a fragrance that resemble the vintage Apres and LB. this might be the one for you. I am surprised and of course had the boutique send one the next day.
I know I will use it up!

To me, L'heure de nuit is a mere variation on L'heure bleue but not much more than that. Of course, I love so much L'heure bleue I could not possibly give L'heure de nuit a bad rating. However, I was expecting a little more from this fragrance. I found L'HDN somewhat tangier and slightly less powdery than L'HB but that's about it. So far, I have not smelled both fragrances on the same person, so I cannot tell whether there are more noticeable differences beside the purplish colour of L'HDN. However, there is a major difference as far as cost is concerned. L'HDN is about two and a half times more expensive than L'HB where I live.

As a L'Heure Bleue fanatic I'll add my review for the sake of comparing L'Heure de Nuit to the old Guerlain classic.

L'Heure de Nuit is a reformulation of LHB rather than a true homage (as opposed to Insolence). Given the restrictions on heliotropin and clove materials, I wasn't holding my breath. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It is far better than the disastrous 2010 reformulation. Overall, Wasser has pulled a "New Shalimar": adjusting for restricted materials, "cleaning" it, and adding some space to the fragrance.

L'Heure de Nuit opens with a minimal touch of cloves. Rather, the top notes are chock full of violets and a green neroli note. It is nose-tickling and bitter, and it is a kind of sleight of hand, substituting for the restricted cloves (eugenol, etc.) that you otherwise expect.

After this faux spicy opening, the fragrance quickly unfolds into a heart of floral, powder, and balsamic sweet notes. These continue until they peter out into a nice musky vanillic base.

L'Heure de Nuit smells closest to my 80's LHB eau de cologne, which is soft, floral, powdery, sweet, and short on cloves. L'Heure de Nuit lacks the praline effect of the pre-2010 formulations (as described by Luca Turin in The Guide), possibly in part because the honeyed leather notes have been removed.

With a note of "white musk" I was ready for the worst, but I have to say that Wasser has done a very good job with this one. I wouldn't be surprised if this formula finds its way into the regular LHB bottles during the next decade.

Gripe time: The shortcomings of this fragrance include the same problem I have with the new Shalimars: longevity. An edp should last a bit longer than this. L'Heure de Nuit wears more like an edt. Sillage is gentle, so I'd like to see this projecting a bit more, too. But there may be a difference when testing between spraying and dabbing.

(And if someone from Guerlain reads this, please change the color.)

I think L'Heure de Nuit may prove popular with the general public (if they ever smell it), but a tough sell to fellow LHB lovers. Because for the same price I could plump for a vintage parfum on ebay. Nevertheless, I think I'll be getting a bottle of L'Heure de Nuit when I can afford it.

4/5 stars

I happened to be in Saks yesterday sampling a few perfumes. I decided to splurge on a bottle of By Kilian's Rose Oud which is marvelous. I had, however, applied L'Heure de Nuit to one arm and certainly "like" it, but after the Kilian purchase decided to leave. As I walked across the parking lot the warm spring breeze kept giving me fleeting whiffs of the Guerlain - lovely. I got into my car pulled out the parking lot and the sun hit my arm and the fragrance got stronger and warmer and was amazing. I couldn't ignore it, and yes, I pulled back into the parking lot and bought a bottle.

While I don't having the perfume vocabulary of most of the people who post here, I would say this is the traditional Guerlainade with a soft veil over it. It is really soft yet definitely present - and perfumes tend to fade quickly on my skin - this does not. All in all I love it and hope many of you will enjoy it too!

I'd rather the pretty cerulean blue had been lavished on the ribbon, stopper, label and atomiser than the juice. Blue liquid looks gimmicky. We know the bulb atomizer is best only for show as well, since these tend to allow evaporation.

I sprayed this on paper last night and was repeatedly drawn to it. Heliotrope? No, amaretto. Yum. This afternoon I applied it to skin, and it's really small in radiance. I get a hint of a medicinal note in addition to almond. I was reminded of Guerlain Bois d'Armenie. Don't have any of that around for comparison. Perhaps someone else can comment on that.

I like L'Heure de Nuit most on paper, when it smells like amaretto and vanilla. I prefer L'Heure Bleue on skin for its unique qualities and respectable throw.

I am going to get the ball rolling. This is a sheerer, more modern L'Heure Bleue. Powdery and marshmellowy and a bit musky and very nice, and also still quite recognizable as a version of LHB. The daughter has less bite in the carnation, while still giving that same twilit, reflective vibe of the mother. If you love the original, chances are you will love this. However, be warned, the converse is also true. All and all a big ole thumbs up, and possibly the best single scent of 2012. Happy 100th Birthday Mme. Bleue!